Cultural Xchange with SKYPE

This semester I'm back and I'm busy with a brand new experience: an online linguistic and cultural exchange with a group of American students from Tulane University in New Orleans.

All the Xchanges are possible thanks to a revolutionary way of communication: SKYPE!
I've heard about it but never tried..
I have to say that it is easy and quick to use: after a simply registration you are able to talk with a person who is at the other side of the world!

As regards the Xchange we had our first conversation on Monday and my impressions about it are extremely positive.
I and two friends of mine made a Skype conference, this means that we can talk together with our American guest..we made a sort of collective chat!!

We spoke with Bari, a girl from New York who is studying in New Orleans. First we introduced each other and talked about our hobbies and our knowledge of our respective countries..
At the beginning it was quite embarassing but funny at the same time..
I think it is a normal feeling because the person in contact with us was a perfect stranger who spoke a different mother tongue..and the lack of a visual contact didn't make the situation easier..
Although this initial "shyness" I have to say that the fact that we were four people speaking together helps a lot to render the atmosphere more relaxing!

After some general topics we talked about Recycling ,which is the main topic of our Tulane-Padova wiki!
Bari told us that in the USA there are no specific laws on recycling and the choice is up to the single citizen.
Moreover, she said that there aren't school programs that can awaken public opinion to recycling because, especially in New Orleans, people have to face first of all the leading problem of social and racial integration..
The situation is then, quite similar to Italy because also in our country there are no specific laws or sanctions about recycling..

That's all for the moment

Annalisa

Photo source
http://www.tecnocino.it/img/skype_free.JPG